Savage

by awalkerlifeforme

She was everything people feared. She wanted to defend the world but also wanted revenge on those who wrecked hers. The ones who forced her to leave Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes. Now she's back and while Steve attempts to get back the woman he's always considered his sister, Bucky hopes to thaw the ice that has formed around her heart. A heart that he had always believed was his.

36. Chapter 35

The morning dawned with the soft pink glow that I was used to lighting up the corner of the room that I was laying in, slowly spreading over to the door. Trying to convince myself that it was time to wake up, I very slowly rolled over. Like most mornings, Bucky was already awake and looking down at me. I had noticed a few days ago that Bucky had been keeping a closer eye on me since Raven had left the compound with nothing more than a note. He was clearly concerned for my state of mind after her disappearance.

But I wasn't that bothered about it. I wished that she was still here, but I knew that she was better off where she was, trying to start her life anew. I had only heard from Raven once more since she had left about a week ago. I did miss the young girl, but I was no fool. I knew that she was best off in a different place. She had to have the chance to grow somewhere else, just like I had. Despite missing her, I was happy for her. The only thing that I wished was that I had actually gotten a chance to say goodbye. A few days after she had left, I had slipped into her mind again.

"Raven."

Instead of jumping like most people did, I felt Raven relax slightly. "I wondered if you would contact me," Raven's voice whispered back.

But in the back of her mind, I could hear the worry. The concern that I would follow her. "I won't follow you. I know that you don't want me to. I know that you want to be on your own. I understand that. I wish you all of the luck in the world, Raven. I really do," I said honestly.

"Thank you, Victoria. For everything. All of you."

"Anytime. Come back if you ever need us."

"I will."

Just like I had seen a few days prior, I could see that she was wandering the streets of New York, somewhere upstate, it appeared. "Good luck in New York," I whispered deep into her mind.

Even from here I could see the smile appear on her face. "You always were smart."

"Yes. I was. New York was my home. Maybe it'll be yours, too."

"Be careful out there."

"You, too. I'll see you again one day," I promised.

Just like I would find Logan again one day, I was also going to find Raven again one day. The mutants were a family, no matter what. "Absolutely," Raven said, a smile in her thoughts. "Enjoy your wedding."

"Enjoy your life."

The exchange between the two of us had been surprisingly pleasant. In fact, it was the most pleasant goodbye that I could ever remember having. Perhaps because I knew this time that I would see her again later. I could tell that Raven was excited about starting her new life. Without letting Raven know, I had slipped into her mind again just the other day to see how she was doing. It appeared that Raven had met another mutant in New York. A telepath, just like I was. The young boy's name was Charles Xavier. Perhaps one day I would meet him too.

In the meantime, Bucky was still smiling down at me. I reached up and gently brushed his hair back off of his forehead. His hands were very slowly traveling over my almost-bear form, tickling me ever-so-slightly. I shivered slightly. Bucky's grin widened slightly. As usual, I was laying in the bed in just my underwear. I had gotten used to it. Plus it was warm last night, so I didn't bother wearing the robe. I hadn't worn it in a while actually. Bucky reached down and pulled the blankets up around our chests and in the meantime, wrapping his arm around me.

He was giving me a slight smile as he leaned down and pressed a kiss against my forehead. His arm wrapped a little bit tighter around me to the point that it was getting slightly difficult to breathe. I didn't bother fighting him on it as he leaned down to press a kiss against my mouth, his hands gripping at my waist, making me giggle slightly. To my surprise, I decided to start moving things along with Bucky, like I had always wanted to do. I rolled him underneath me and planted myself over his hips. Bucky was clearly surprised by my actions.

But I didn't care. Not that he was surprised and not that what I was doing was very much inappropriate. Even more so than just being in bed with him. Either way I was so happy being with Bucky. More than I had ever thought that I could be with anyone. I leaned down onto his chest, keeping his hips in between my thighs. My fingers dug softly into his chest as Bucky's hands wrapped around the bottom of my thighs tightly, enough to indicate that he wasn't letting go of me anytime soon. The way that he was gripping me was definitely possessive.

"Ready to go to Greece?" I asked, breaking the kiss and leaning up slightly.

"Not really," Bucky said, his hands running down the length of my legs. "I'd rather stay here."

"Me too," I said.

"Stay in bed all day."

"Alas, we both have jobs, and that means doing other things," I teased.

"Maybe on a honeymoon one day," Bucky said.

"Honeymoon?"

Honestly, a possible honeymoon was something that I hadn't even bothered thinking about. It seemed that we were too busy to take one. "Yeah. Those typically happen after a wedding," Bucky teased.

"I hadn't even thought about that," I mumbled.

"Might be nice to get away from everything for a little while," Bucky suggested.

"Where would we go?" I asked him.

Bucky thought about it for a moment, rubbing his chin. "I don't know. Where do you want to go?" he asked.

There wasn't anywhere that I really wanted to go. I liked being here just fine. No one stared at me like I was a monster. "Maybe nowhere. Maybe I'll just want to keep you inside our room," I said playfully.

"Hmm... That sounds like the perfect time," Bucky grinned.

"Does it?"

"Mm-hmm," Bucky said, running his hands up and down my legs again. "I think I know where you want to go."

"Where's that?" I asked before realizing what he might have been thinking. "Watch what you say. I'll still kill you."

Bucky laughed softly and shook his head. Maybe that wasn't what he was thinking. "I know. I don't think that it's a place that we can actually go," Bucky said. I raised a brow. Where could we not go? "You told me about it once, a long time ago." I raised a brow. What had I told him about? I couldn't remember. "You used to hear your parents talking about Wakanda. It fascinated you, the idea of going there."

Had I ever told him about that? Apparently. Even though I hadn't thought that it was a story that I had ever repeated to anyone. When I was young, I used to hear my parents talking about the mysterious country, so reclusive and evidently so disadvantaged. But I remembered their explanations to each other and other scientists. It was really one of the most technologically advanced societies due to the abundance of Vibranium in the soil. They used it for everything and didn't sell it to anyone else to avoid getting involved in foreign conflicts. I could only imagine what it looked like there.

Perhaps one day I would get to see it. As for now, it was closed off to the rest of the world. "I forgot that I told you about that," I mumbled.

Bucky smiled. "When you told me about Wakanda, I remember it being the first time that I really wanted to travel," he admitted.

He always had liked Brooklyn and New York in general. I was honestly surprised that he even liked living in England. "With me? Or in general? Or perhaps with someone else?" I teased.

"Only with you," Bucky said.

He definitely couldn't go alone. He would have been sure to get lost. But I didn't bother saying that. Not in the nice and sweet romantic moment. I smiled and pulled Bucky in for a lingering kiss. We stayed together for a few moments before pulling away. We both smiled as we merely laid pressed against each other. It didn't seem like it had ever been so hard to force myself to get out of the bed and get moving for the day. So I decided to cave and give myself a few more minutes of sleep. After all, we still weren't leaving for a while.

It could have been a few minutes or a few hours. I wasn't really sure. All I knew was that the two of us were laying together in the bed and I closed my eyes, wishing that we could have laid here forever. Bucky brushed his lips gently across my temple as I dozed for a few more minutes, somewhere in between being asleep and awake. For what seemed like the millionth time, I dreamed of our wedding day and what it would look like. Perhaps that farm house that Howard really wanted us to have. Or maybe even that beach house that I had wanted for so long.

Bucky could be whatever he wanted. He was still young. He had a long time to figure it out and I would support him no matter what he wanted to do. I could do... I wasn't sure what I could do. I was a mutant. It would be limited. Maybe start with trying to go to school for real this time around. Or try making something on my own. A school for mutants. Or just for women. I even dreamed about the rest of my life with him. Could we really have a family? A white picket fence and two kids running around? Maybe. Complete happiness? Definitely.

"We could do it right now," Bucky's voice called, startling me from my half-asleep trance. I peeked an eye open and glanced at him. "Stay here. Stay in bed all day. Let the men go out on their mission."

For a moment it was incredibly tempting. But I knew that there was something more important for me to be doing right now. "I'm supposed to be out there bossing them around," I said.

"That's Steve's job."

"And he's terrible at it."

"That's true."

In all actuality, he wasn't that terrible. But I was definitely better at it. Perhaps because I was just used to it. "You know what?" I said. Bucky hummed at me. "I think that you're a bad influence. Here we are, an unmarried couple laying together in bed, almost completely unclothed. And you're trying to convince me to stay here all day rather than actually do work."

"You know what? I think that you're the one who started making me a bad influence," Bucky shot back.

Was I a bad influence? Yes, probably. I definitely wasn't a good person. I had murdered people from young children to grown adults, some innocent and some not. I had murdered my own parents. Violent. Cruel. Savage. All perfect words to describe me. But that wasn't what Bucky was talking about. I knew what he was talking about. And I had to be honest, I wasn't a good influence in that way either. He might have been slightly worse than me, but I wasn't helping it along. Especially with the animalistic tendencies that I had.

"Now that's not fair," I said, nudging Bucky.

"What is it that you say? Life's not fair," he shot back.

Snorting under my breath, I shook my head at him and rolled my eyes. "Should have known that that was going to come back and haunt me one day," I laughed.

The two of us both laughed for a few seconds before Bucky said, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

There was something slightly uncomfortable in his voice. I raised a brow, wondering what it was that he wanted. "After the wedding we'll be back in New York. Why don't we spend a week or two and just... be together? Do whatever we want. Go travel or just hole up in a hotel room," he said.

That was why he sounded so awkward. He didn't want to talk about what happened that night. "That sounds nice. We could see your family. Spend some time with them," I suggested.

It would be nice to hang around Jessica, Rebecca, and Justin for longer than just a few minutes. "Will you show me something?" Bucky asked.

"What do you want to see?" I asked.

"Your home."

"My home? Chester's house? That's where we're having the wedding," I pointed out.

If he meant the inside of the house, I would show him that in the days before the wedding. "No. The home that you grew up in," Bucky said suddenly.

My heart sank down into my stomach and even further. He wanted to see the childhood house that I had been in? Not even a home. There was no bit of that place that had been a home. There wasn't even anything left there. I had burned it all to the ground long ago. I didn't know that I wanted to see the remnants of it. I had always been too cowardly to go back and see it. I didn't want to see the ghosts of the people whose lives I had taken. The first ones in a long line of lives, each one meaning less and less. My first time being Savage.

"What?" I finally asked breathlessly.

Bucky seemed to realize that I wasn't fond of the idea of returning to my old home. "You don't have to show me if you don't want to. I've just - I've always been curious to see it," he said weakly, trying to retract his earlier statement.

But I wasn't offended. I supposed that nervous was a better word for it. "Well I doubt that there's anything there anymore. The house burned down. I - I don't think that they ever rebuilt anything there. Not when they thought that the loving family that lived there died tragically in a house fire in the middle of the night," I said honestly, sneering my words slightly.

Loving my ass... "You don't have to show me," Bucky said softly.

There weren't many things that he asked for. I supposed that I could do that one thing. Get over my own fear. "You asked to see it. You wouldn't have asked if you didn't want to see it. I get it, Bucky. You want to see everything that's made me the person that I am," I reasoned. Bucky nodded slowly. "I'll show you my childhood home one day. One day I might even show you Stryker's lab. What's left of it, anyway."

How much was even left of the lab? When I had left, it had been imploding on itself. Howard had later told me that there was very little of it left. Essentially just the shell of the building and some paperwork. Of course, all of that had been taken by Stryker's few remaining workers and later on, Howard. The thought of returning to Stryker's lab after so long was frightening, but perhaps it was something that I needed to do. Just see it one last time. Remember all of the progress that I was making and remember that things could be a lot worse.

"Would you be okay going back?" Bucky asked carefully, knowing that I wasn't totally comfortable with the thought of going back.

"Alone? No," I said honestly. "With you? Maybe."

Bucky seemed to know that talking about my prison chamber was tough for me. "We could go back to that old cafe? Remember the one?" Bucky asked. I raised a brow. Which one was he talking about? There were tons of cafes that we used to go to when we were kids. "It was around the corner from the old apartment. I used to catch you there whenever something upset you."

"Hatlin's…" I mumbled, the memory slowly coming back to me. "Was that it?"

"Yeah. I loved that place," Bucky said, his lips turning up in a smile.

"Gosh I haven't thought of that place in forever," I whispered.

That was the truth. I hadn't thought about the little bar in a long time. It was just a few blocks down from the apartments and had been the tiniest little hole-in-the-wall bar. Not many people had been there, but we always had. There were all sorts of trinkets from the early nineteenth century resting up on the wall with plaques explaining them. I had always thought that it was rather fascinating to read them. Most were sexist, but it was fascinating still. It had always been dark and smoky, the perfect place to hide from all of your problems.

Bucky and I had spent a number of late afternoons and nights there. Hatlin's had been open until well into the morning - it would serve the last round at two o'clock in the morning - so there were some nights that we would eat there and then wander around the park or apartment complex, never even returning home. Definitely not our wisest choices, but sometimes that was easier than having to deal with questions from Steve or his family. Especially when all I wanted was to be alone... or just with him.

It was always one of our favorite places to hide from the world together. It was the one place that neither one of us had ever gone to with Steve. Just that one place. Neither one of us had ever brought anyone else there. No one from our school knew about it. It was on the poor side of town and no one that was anyone would have been caught dead there. Steve didn't even know that it was there. It was just the two of us, whenever we were upset about something. We had gone countless times growing up. There was one time in particular that was currently coming back to me.

During my last year of middle school when I was thirteen, I had spent a lot of time with Bucky in Hatlin's. He had been sixteen - about to turn seventeen - and had been in his third year of high school. That day I had sprinted home from school after Johnathan had made another show out of me at lunch time. He had spilled his juice all over me and made a joke about how I couldn't make it to the bathroom on time. One of his many jokes that were made at my expense. Without Bucky and Steve in the school to stand up for me, Johnathan and his cronies always attacked me.

Even with Steve and Bucky in school with me they were still nasty towards me, but it had only gotten worse now that they were in the sister high school. All I could think was that in one more year I would be with them again, but a year seemed like forever right now. I was still sprinting towards Hatlin's with tears flowing down my face as I heard their laughter echoing in my brain. It wasn't just from the memory of them and the rest of the large school laughing at me. It was because I could actually hear their voices, still making fun of me.

They hated me. They would always hate me. Everyone hated me. The only people who loved me were Bucky and Steve, and one day they, too, would move on from me. I darted into the bar with my hair hanging limply in front of my eyes and dove into a booth in the back corner of the bar. Because of the dark and musty air, no one had ever even noticed that I had yellow eyes. To them, I was just another paying customer who came in whenever I was having a bad day. They were some of the few people who didn't stare at me. Of course, it would change if they saw me in the daylight.

For now, though, it was fine. None of the waiters or waitresses came over to visit me and see what I wanted. They had never asked me what I wanted. They usually just waited until I came and said that I needed something, which was rarely. They merely sat and let me linger, since I caused no problems. For a long time I sat and debated on how long I could sit here. At least for another five or six hours. Until the Barnes' and Rogers' started looking for me. Bucky and Steve, more specifically. As for what to do next, I wasn't sure.

Perhaps one day I would figure it out. But that wasn't right now. Right now I just wanted to sit and pity myself. But I really wished that I wasn't crying. I was sick of crying. That didn't change things though. Mostly because I hated the way that they could all get to me. They were just words... but they weren't. They were more. My life was already so miserable. Why did they have to keep making things worse for me? Perhaps because they had always seen me as an easy target. My hands began to buzz as I debated on showing them just how tough I really was.

All of them could have been dead within seconds if I had really wanted it. I really should have. I could have showed them just how tough I was. But I couldn't do that. I wasn't a monster, no matter what people said about me. I never would be. I was better than that. It wasn't that surprising when Bucky took a seat across from me after I had spent a few hours staring at the wooden table. For a moment he didn't speak. He was trying to see through my curtain of white-blonde hair, but I refused to look at him. I didn't want him to see how easily the other kids could get to me.

Ten minutes later a brunette waitress in her mid-fifties appeared at our side, notepad in hand. "How about a milkshake?" Bucky asked me.

I stayed silent. "What can I get you, sweetie?" the woman asked us.

"A chocolate shake, please," Bucky told her.

The older woman nodded and walked off, smiling at the two of us. Only because she couldn't see what I looked like. And perhaps because she - like everyone else - thought that Bucky was quite the charmer. And he was. Why he was even moderately interested in being my friend was beyond me. As Bucky sat with me in silence, not even asking me to look at him, I knew that I was supposed to open my mouth and say something. Thank him for showing up, at least, but I said nothing.

Being emotional and thankful wasn't something that I was good with. But I supposed that, at this point, Bucky already knew that. He wasn't going to push me to speak until I was ready. For a few minutes the two of us just sat together in a loud silence. Bucky eventually reached over and grabbed my hands that were knitted in front of my chest. That was all that the two of us did. We just sat together with our hands clasped. That was all that either one of us needed. It was more than I deserved.

"One chocolate shake," the waitress said, appearing back at our side. "You want anything else, sweetie?" I could only assume that she was asking me, since Bucky wasn't speaking. I shook my head slowly. "Okay. Let me know."

The woman was speaking slowly, as if trying to comfort an animal at bay. "Thank you," Bucky told the woman. She smiled and walked off. Bucky pushed the milkshake towards me, but I left it alone. "Want to talk?" I shook my head. "How about an order of fries?" That was enough to get me to almost crack a smile. Fries were my absolute favorite snack in the world. "Yeah, I thought so. Miss!"

The woman turned back to face us. "What's up, sweetie?" she asked happily.

"Can we get an order of fries?" Bucky asked.

"Sure thing," she called back.

Perhaps it was good for me to eat something. That was what I really needed right now. Food. Something that Bucky was always good for. So we sat together for a while longer. We still didn't say anything and I was grateful for it. He never pushed me to talk and let me rant and rave like a lunatic when I needed to. Right now, I had nothing to say to him. Nothing that wouldn't make me sound psychotic. I liked the little silences that we had anyways. But I couldn't help but to wonder where his newest girlfriend was for the past few hours. Susan. They had been dating for a few weeks now.

"Fries," the waitress said, placing down a large plate in between the two of us.

"Thanks," Bucky said.

The two of us sat together in silence for another few minutes. I could hear the internal gears of the grandfather clock ticking and chiming and grinding together. The clinking of the silverware. Everyone's chewing. Breathing. Speaking. Their thoughts about the strange little girl sitting in the back booth and that nice-looking boy who seemed such an odd match for her. Desperate to block them out, I grabbed one of the fries on the plate and stuck it in the milkshake, stuffing it in my mouth. Bucky smiled at my actions - something that he had taught me.

Once I had finished my mouthful I asked, "Where's Susan?"

My voice was raspy from the lack of use. "Ah. She speaks!" Bucky cried joyfully, laughing softly. I merely stared blankly at him, waiting for my answer. "Told her to head home. There was something that I needed to take care of tonight."

I couldn't imagine that she had liked that. "She's your girlfriend," I pointed out.

"Yeah. So? You're my best friend. There's no one more important than you," Bucky said.

It was his classic argument. I was his best friend and Steve was his best friend. He loved us and no one would ever stop him. What had either one of us done to deserve him? I sniffled back my tears as Bucky leaned forward and brushed a stray tear from my eyes. As Bucky smiled at me I couldn't help but to wonder if my parents might have been right about me. Maybe I shouldn't have ever come out into the public eye. These people clearly hated me just as much as my own parents did. Maybe even more. Maybe no one would ever love me.

"Your knuckles are bruised," I pointed out, spotting the black and blue marks against his knuckles.

Bucky laughed and wrung his fingers over themselves. "Yeah. Kind of went after Johnathan for what he said about you," Bucky admitted. I let out a deep breath. He would get in trouble for that. "Especially since he was laughing about it." I flinched slightly and Bucky gave me a guilty smile. "Sorry. But he deserved what he had coming. He won't be laughing. Not for a while, at least."

"And what'd you pay for it?" I asked.

"Two days' suspension," Bucky said carelessly.

"Bucky -"

"Worth it," he interrupted.

But it wasn't worth it for him to continuously get in trouble because he was defending me. The two of us stared at each other for a little while as a small frown marred Bucky's face. He knew that I was upset with him. But I hated him got getting himself into trouble again. He was always getting lunch detentions or brief suspensions for fighting back against what everyone else said about me. It drove me insane. He was ruining his own future just because kids were cruel. He couldn't keep standing up for me if it meant getting into trouble himself.

"Why do you hang around me?" I asked suddenly.

If my question had surprised him, he didn't let me see it. "Because I love you. Because you're my best friend," Bucky said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"But it can't be worth all of this," I said, motioning flippantly around us.

Bucky raised a brow. "The suspension?" he asked. I nodded. His mother would kill him for getting another one. "Who cares? It's a few days that I don't have to be in school. I don't like school anyways. I know, that's sacrilege for someone like you to hear from me, but it's the truth."

He was grinning at me. "Who taught you that word?" I teased.

Bucky had a terrible grade in English. There was no way that he knew that word. "You did." That sounded more likely. "Vika... don't listen to them, okay? You're so much better than they are. They're just a bunch of dumb kids," Bucky said. Perhaps... but their words still bothered me. I would always be the odd one out. "The day's going to come that we get to leave this place and never look back. You and me and Steve. The three of us against the world, right?"

"What about Susan?" I asked bitterly.

Every few months or weeks Bucky would have a different girl. Susan was just the latest in a long stream of girls. She was his type. Perfectly curled blonde hair, thin and tall, with a sweet attitude. Bright blue eyes and a chipper laugh. Consistently happy. A good cook. The motherly type. Nothing like me. Precisely the reason that the two of us didn't get along very well. Not that I would tell Bucky that I hated her. If he was happy, that was what mattered to me. Even if it meant that I had to put up with snide remarks from her and ignore her dangling him in front of me.

"You know..." Bucky started, breaking my thoughts. "I'm thinking about ending it with her."

Now that was a surprise. "Why?" I asked curiously.

"Because she doesn't like you," Bucky said.

"So?" I asked bitterly. "No one does."

"I do," Bucky snapped back. "I'm not gonna be with anyone who doesn't like you. She doesn't like how much time that I spend with you. She asked me to stop speaking to you and I'm not gonna do that."

It was unsurprising. Many of Bucky's old girlfriends had despised the amount of time that we had spent together. A number hadn't liked that we essentially lived together. Some worried that his friendship with me would damage their reputation since they were linked to him. No matter what it was, I couldn't remember any of Bucky's girlfriends - or even friends, for that matter - being okay with him being close to me. Steve was always the only one who hadn't cared. Bucky, too. If a girlfriend hadn't liked me, he had never cared. He would tell them to get over it or move on.

In a much nicer way, though. "You'll lose your girlfriend," I pointed out, well aware of the many times that it had already happened.

"But I won't lose you. And that's what really matters," Bucky said, grinning.

"Buck?" I asked after a few moments' silence.

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for being here."

"Always," he said determinedly.

And so he had proven himself true. He had always been there for me, even in the days that I hadn't been there for him. He had always been the one to be loyal to me. That old bar had been the site of many conversations like that one. When kids made fun of or hurt me, when Bucky was embarrassed by his grades or hurt by a girlfriend, or just when life felt too heavy. It was our place of solace for so many years. Or perhaps it wasn't the bar. We were each other's solace, even back then. We just hadn't realized how far it had gone.

"We used to like that place a lot, didn't we?" I asked, smiling at Bucky.

"It was one of our favorite places to go when we were kids. It was always the place that either one of us could go whenever we were upset. We always knew that we could find each other there," Bucky answered.

"We've always known each other a lot better than either one of us wanted to admit."

"Nah. I know that I know everything about you."

"Everything?" I asked, raising a brow.

Because there had been one very big piece of my life that he had been missing for a long time. Bucky gave me a bashful smile. "Well... even if I'm missing something, I have the rest of my life to figure it out," he said.

And we did. There were still many years left for the two of us. I smiled as Bucky leaned over and pulled me against his chest, practically throwing me over himself. I laughed as I laid my head down against his chest and his chin buried itself in my hair. So many years had passed since we were those kids that hid like ghosts in Hatlin's and I loved the way that we had ended up. Even back then, this wasn't something that I had ever seen coming, but now it was something that I couldn't imagine living without. And I knew that Bucky felt the same way.

"How much longer do we have?" Bucky asked.

Glancing over towards the clock, I said, "About an hour."

"Just enough time," Bucky said, grinning playfully.

My eyes narrowed as he shifted towards me slightly. "You know that I can read your mind, right?" I asked, even though I didn't need to read his mind to know what he was thinking.

Bucky chuckled softly. "I don't have to read your mind to know that you're thinking the same thing," he teased.

He was right about that much. "Fine... An hour it is," I sighed.

We both laughed, knowing that I was just kidding about it being a hassle, being with him. It was one of my favorite things in the world, as a matter of fact. Bucky reached over for my hip and wrapped a hand around it, tugging me to roll underneath his own body. His hands very gently traced my frame and I giggled at the feather-light touches as Bucky brought me into a long kiss. That same kind of kiss that he had given me a thousand times before. That same kiss that still made my heart race. He tilted my head back slightly as I let myself melt into the soft bed.

There was once a time in my life where I wasn't comfortable with anything or anyone. For a long time it was the way that I had thought that I would be forever. But things were different now. For the first time ever, I found myself completely at ease being with Bucky. I had never been so happy with anyone else. I never could be. Not this way. Not considering that he was just in his underwear. My hands very slowly trailed down his body to tease at the waistband of his underwear. He grinned and gently fingered the strap of my bra playfully so that it shifted off of my shoulder.

"You're a tease," Bucky mumbled against my mouth.

My hands pulled his underwear string a little together. "So are you."

"When are you gonna do something about it?"

That time I had to break the kiss, considering that my jaw dropped and I was unable to stop it. He always had and likely always would shock me when he said things like that. I wasn't used to him saying things like that. But every now and again he did. And each time I felt it warm my core slightly. My heartbeat was fluttering slightly as I stared at him. His mouth was tilted up in a playful smile. That was when I realized that he was kidding. But the dark gaze in his eyes told me that it was only slightly joking. So I decided to mess back with him.

"Come on, Buck. You're the man. Aren't you supposed to be the one to make the first move?" I asked.

Bucky grinned and took the bait, just like I was expecting. "Alright."

Bucky reached for me and, for a moment, I thought that he was planning on throwing me onto the floor. I probably would have deserved it. Instead he wrapped an arm around me waist and lifted me up into his lap. I laughed under my breath as he pulled me up against his lap and began pulling at the hook in the back of my bra. He was just inches away from pulling the piece of clothing off of me. One hook was already undone. And then... then what would happen? Would we keep going or manage to restrain ourselves?

The thought that would have once sent me running for the hills now sent a jolt of elation through me. It wasn't just because I needed to take one of the pills. I knew that I wanted it. It was a long time coming that I had so desperately wanted it to keep happening. I was so sick of waiting for this to happen. Waiting a year was never going to work. So as he worked at the hook on the back of my bra, I moved my hands back to the string on his drawers. My thumb was gently pressing against his bare stomach as my fingers gently worked at the knot that he had put in them last night.

His own were a little unsteady. Was he planning on stopping me? No, it didn't seem like it. His hands gently wrapped over mine, helping loosen the knot. It was his way of telling me that he didn't want me to stop. If I was ready, so was he. That was what mattered. I knew that we had enough time. At least, I was hopeful that we had enough time. We both wanted this. We would be married soon enough, after all... I had no real reason for either one of us not to do what we both so desperately wanted. Perhaps it really was time.

The moment that Bucky was about ready to take off my bra - as he had undone the second clasp - and I had managed to undo the knotted string of his boxers, a knock at the door sounded. Typical, really. We both jumped apart slightly but didn't completely pull apart. Our foreheads remained pressed together as Bucky pressed a gentle kiss against my bare shoulder. There was no need for embarrassment. After all, we were going to be married soon enough and we were in love. There was nothing that wrong with what we were doing. But we also didn't want to be discovered.

"Buck! Vic!" Steve's voice drifted in through the hallway. They all knew that we lived together now, but it still wasn't a topic of open discussion at my threat that I would kill them if they mentioned it in front of Chester. He knew that we lived together, but I knew that he didn't want to hear about it. "We're getting ready to leave soon."

"Yeah. We're just finishing up getting ready," I blatantly lied. "Give us five minutes."

"We'll be at the air field," Steve said.

"Okay," Bucky called back blankly.

Since Steve had such wonderful hearing, I waited a few moments until his footsteps had completely receded, ensuring that he was long gone by the time that we spoke again. Slowly my gaze turned back to Bucky. He hadn't once looked away from me. His hands stayed locked on my back as he re-hooked the bra politely. My hands slowly fell from the tie on his underwear. Bucky didn't look ashamed as he smiled at me, brushing the hair back off of my forehead and trailing his hands down my slightly flushed cheeks.

"That was... good timing..." I said breathlessly.

"No, it wasn't," Bucky said.

We both laughed softly. Before I realized it, I had said, "Tell you what."

"What?"

My heart was hammering out of my chest as I realized that I had already spoken. I couldn't just ignore it right now. This was my chance to say something and make sure that we finally took that next step. Once I said this, there was no going back. There would be no way to take it back. But I wanted it. I so desperately wanted it. I had since long before the two of us even started sharing a bed together. Perhaps way back during Bucky's basic training. That wasn't the right time. This was. I wouldn't feel guilty if we did it. I knew that.

"Survive this mission, and we'll finish this," I said lowly.

Bucky stared at me for a moment, probably wondering if I was kidding. His eyebrows raised in surprise when I nodded my consent at him. "If there was ever a good reason to come back home," he said, chuckling and running his hands through his hair.

"Marrying me wasn't good enough?" I teased.

"There will never be anything better than that," Bucky said seriously.

"Nothing?" I asked curiously.

"Nothing. Not a single damn thing."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely," Bucky said, not even an ounce of doubt audible in his voice. He really was sure about this. About me. "What about you?"

"What do you mean?" I asked dumbly.

"Is there anything better than me?"

Of course not. I don't even know what I'd do without you. But I sensed a perfect opportunity to mess with him, so I said, "I don't know, I really do like Kentucky Fried Chicken."

Bucky's face fell. "You're such an ass," he snapped, laughing anyways,

We both laughed as Bucky went to move from the bed. I reached after him, grabbed his arm, and yanked him back. "I'm kidding. I'm just kidding," I giggled. Bucky smiled as he ran a finger through my hair. "No. There's nothing that will ever mean more to me. You're one of the only people who's ever looked at me like I wasn't a monster. You didn't run when you found out what I was. You forgave me for leaving you. You... You're willing to give up everything for a life with someone like me."

"I'm not giving up anything," Bucky snapped. "I'm getting everything that I ever wanted."

"A wife who doesn't even know how to be one?" I questioned glumly.

"The love of my life," Bucky said, grinning at me. He's too good for you. "Stop saying that you aren't good enough for me. You're better than me. Better than everyone. I'm the one that doesn't deserve you."

How did I ever end up with someone who would say things like that to me? How did I ever end up with someone who literally believed that I could do no wrong? Maybe it was because we had grown up together as kids. Maybe he still remembered me when I was a lot more innocent. Maybe it was because he had never seen me attack someone who was innocent. I didn't know. All I knew was that no one would ever look at me the way that Bucky did and that was what I deserved. Not someone who thought that I was an angel sent from above.

He deserved someone ten times better than me - and someone normal. "That's a lie," I muttered.

"No, it's not. You know what my mother used to tell me about love?" Bucky said.

Mrs. Barnes had talked to me a little bit about love. I didn't know that she gave Bucky the same talks. "No," I said slowly.

Bucky smiled, obviously remembering his mother fondly. "She used to say that you don't need someone to complete you. You only need someone to accept you completely," Bucky said.

Something jolted in me. Maybe he wasn't okay with what I had done. He had just accepted it. He accepted that I was different from him. He accepted that I had done some nightmarish things. He accepted that I wasn't the kind of person to grow old and settle down and have a family. He had accepted that he wouldn't have a normal life with me. How I had never seen those things was beyond me, because I realized it now. He had said it to me, back in the bar, right after Steve and I had rescued the soldiers. I'm not okay with you, I'm in love with you.

And I was in love with him too. "That's something that I've carried with me for my entire life," Bucky continued. "It carried with me when you told me all about yourself and it's still carried with me. It will until the day that I die."

"Sounds like your mother," I said slowly. "I'm glad that she told you that and I'm glad that you accepted it."

"I always had a person to show me exactly what she meant."

Yes, I supposed that I was the prime example. I smiled slightly as Bucky pressed another kiss against my mouth. We stayed locked together for a little while before I broke the kiss. "Do we really have to get up?" I groaned.

"We've got incentive to come back, don't we?" Bucky joked.

"You do, at least," I shot back.

Bucky let out a barking laugh. "Don't get cocky."

"I have every right to be. I'm flexible."

It was the truth. I had always been and training with the men made me even more flexible. Bucky laughed as I kicked him gently away from me and leaned back over the edge of the bed. It probably looked like I was about to fall out of the bed when I hit the ground with my hands, upside down, rolling over myself out of the bed. I briefly let my legs fall into a split before throwing myself over my torso and landing back on my feet, righting myself and flipping my hair out of my face. Bucky had been watching me closely the entire time, sitting up in the bed.

His eyes were darker than normal as he stood from the bed. "I'll remember that," he said, passing me closely and pressing his bare chest against my arm.

"Come on, hotshot," I teased, laughing and shoving him gently away from me. "We're running late."

We both laughed and smiled at each other as we began getting ready for the day. Bucky let me use the bathroom as he changed in the bedroom. I pulled on my uniform and straightened it out. Howard had lately decided to add a new piece to the uniform. Three jagged claw-marks, neon green, sat over my chest, right where my heart was and extended down to my ribcage. I had had to be very quiet about admitting that I had liked it, or else Howard would have never let me forget it. Once I was ready, I turned back to Bucky, who was zipping up his jacket.

"Ready?" I asked.

His eyes traced over the lines of the uniform, skimming over the weapons at my hips and thighs, before tracking back up to my eyes. "Sooner we leave, sooner we get to come back," Bucky said brightly.

"I knew that would get you moving."

We both laughed. "You know the way to my heart."

"I'm not so sure that's your heart that you're thinking with," I shot back.

It definitely wasn't his heart. The two of us laughed again as I gathered my gun, slipping it into my thigh holster, and headed over towards the door. Bucky threw the rifle onto his back as the two of us made our way out into the open hallway. No one was out here anymore and I was grateful for it. I felt like I had shame written all over my face, which would likely get worse as soon as I saw the others. We headed off towards the air field where the rest of the men, Chester, Peggy, and Howard would be waiting for us. Bucky and I clasped hands as we walked.

The two of us walked over towards the back of the air field. The plane that Howard had become so accustomed to flying was usually back towards the rear of the air field to keep it from being accidentally photographed. We couldn't have Hydra knowing who we were. Today we would be heading deep into Greece to find and destroy the Hydra Uber Tank. It would take us just under four hours to get there in the plane. The two of us headed up the ramp to the plane and I grinned at the rest of the men, who were already standing around a table.

"Morning, everyone," I chirped.

"Morning," they all replied.

As we headed over to the table, I turned towards Bucky. "Go ahead and get ready for the mission. We'll talk about everything soon," I said.

Bucky nodded and walked off towards Dum Dum and Gabe as I headed over towards Steve, who was loading his handgun. The two of us smiled at each other. "You two were late this morning," Steve commented.

"What?" I growled, gritting the word out between my teeth. "Are we really going to have this conversation?"

"Just..." Steve began.

His voice quickly dropped off as he stared down at the ground. Of course. He wasn't going to say anything about his two best friends getting potentially intimate with each other. I crossed my arms over my chest. "You can't even say it. You think that it's too awkward," I said slowly.

"Well, it is. You're like my sister and Bucky might as well be my brother," Steve said.

Now that wasn't a picture that I needed in my head. "Oh, don't say it like that. Because I think of you as my brother and I really don't want to have to start thinking about Bucky as my brother, too," I groaned.

"If it keeps the two of you from -"

"So, how are things going with Peggy?" I interrupted.

"Vic -"

"Tell me."

We were not talking about my relationship with Bucky and we definitely weren't talking about my relationship. Steve stared at me for a moment before letting out a breath. "Nothing's happening. Peggy is really nice. She's... She's tough. Not like you, but she's tough for someone without any mutations. She's one of the few people that was nice to me before Captain America," he explained.

"Yeah, I know how that feels," I breathed out. Very few people had been nice to me before I had revealed the truth about myself. "She really likes you."

"Vic -"

"Come on!"

"Come on with what?"

Crossing my arms over my chest, I narrowed my eyes irritably at him. "You know what, Steve. It's important to Bucky and me, for you to be happy with someone," I snapped.

"I'm happy without someone," Steve pointed out.

"You might be happy with someone too," I half-sang.

He was going to be wonderful with Peggy. I believed that. "Maybe. But it really doesn't matter to me," Steve said, shrugging.

But he could have been so good with her! If only he would listen to me... "Oh, come on. I can see how much you like her. I see it every time that you look at her," I said. Steve let out a soft breath as he stared at me. Perhaps I really would have to recruit the men to help me out here. "It's not just me. Everyone does. Just ask her dancing. I bet you that she'd say yes."

Steve stared at me for a moment. "You really think that she'd say yes?" he asked slowly.

"I'm absolutely positive that she'd say yes."

"What do I say?"

"How about something along the lines of, 'Peggy, would you like to go dancing with me?'" I teased.

"But -"

"Oh, I've got it!" I interrupted loudly.

"Got what?" Steve asked.

"The perfect time for you to ask Peggy out on a date!"

"But -"

"My wedding!" I interrupted again.

"Wedding?"

"Yes, Steve, I'm getting married, in case you forgot. Come on, you were there when Bucky proposed to me," I teased.

"Shut up. I know that," Steve snapped. "Wouldn't that be a little awkward?"

It wouldn't be the slightest bit awkward and it would make the happiest day of my life just the slightest bit happier. "Of course not. Think a little bit. You're both going to be at the wedding anyways and you'll already be expected to dance together. You're the best man and Peggy's the maid of honor. You'll be each other's escorts anyways, but it would be sweet of you to ask Peggy separately. No pressure. A good first date, since everyone will be focused on Bucky and me," I reasoned brightly. "Eh?"

Steve thought about my suggestion for a few moments. "That's... actually not a terrible idea," he said slowly.

"See?" I chirped happily.

If I had it my way, Steve and Peggy would be together before the New Year. "Victoria!" Chester barked.

"Oh... He doesn't sound happy with me," I muttered.

"What's that about?" Steve asked curiously.

"Who knows? Something that I did that either wasn't appropriate or wasn't nice," I huffed.

That was usually why he was yelling at me. "It's like he doesn't know you at all," Steve teased.

"Exactly!" I called, stepping back towards Chester. "I'll be back."

"Enjoy that," Steve said.

It was sure to be fun, getting called out by Chester for some type of behavior that he didn't like from me. I walked over towards Chester, who was standing with his arms crossed over his chest. His normal frown was marring his face. I stopped in front of him with a small smile. "What's up, old man?" I teased.

He didn't even give the slightest twitch of a smile. "What took so long this morning?" Chester asked.

My face flushed. "Oh my - Not you, too," I groaned.

"Victoria," Chester growled.

"Let it go," I interrupted snappily. "You know that we sleep in the same room and the same bed together."

Chester gave the slightest flinch. What was his problem? Everyone knew that the two of us slept in his room. "Please don't say that. You're my daughter. He might be your fiancé, but you aren't married yet. Not for almost another year. I don't want to have to hear about that," Chester sighed.

Of course. He didn't want to know about any potentially non-innocent activities that we were partaking in. "We're just sleeping together. Promise," I said, grabbing his hands comfortingly. Liar. You know that's about to change.

"Is that so?" Chester asked disbelievingly.

"Yes!" I hissed, shoving him away from the rest of the team. "Don't make it more awkward."

"You're my daughter," Chester pointed out.

"And he's my fiancé," I shot back, grateful that Bucky wasn't looking at us. I felt like everyone knew what was happening. Probably because they did. "You knew that we were going to start living together at some point anyways."

Chester nodded, rubbing a hand over his chin. "I was hoping that it would be after the wedding."

"Knock it off."

The two of us stared at each other for a little while and said nothing. We were going to be together at some point before the wedding. I already knew that. There was no way that either one of us could make it for just under a year. It might happen that night. Or perhaps it would be a little while later. But I had a good feeling that it would be tonight. The thought made my pulse race but I tried to push it back. Chester could read me like a book, no matter how much I wished that he couldn't, and that wasn't a conversation that I wanted to have right now.

"Planned any more of the wedding?" Chester finally asked, thankfully changing the subject.

"Actually, we did. We found a place that we wanted to have it," I said.

"Where's that?" Chester asked curiously.

"Back on the farm. Your house," I said halfway sheepishly. Chester looked slightly surprise, but gave me one of his rare smiles. "It was the place where I finally got to restart my life. It was the place that saved me and eventually brought the two of us back together again. If you don't mind having it back there, I would love to use that open field."

"The place I almost shot you?" Chester asked.

"That exact one," I said, grinning at the memory.

"It's not my home, Victoria. It's yours, too."

"Thanks, old man."

The one home that I had really had. Not my parents, who had hated me. Not Bucky or Steve's parents' houses. I was more of a guest there. That farm was home. "We'll go home. Have it there," Chester said. I smiled. It had been a long time since we had been back home. Since before I had even met back up with Bucky. "There'll be a lot of land. We can have it out in the backyard. We can all help set it up."

"You know what I like probably better than I do," I laughed.

"That's true. Still having it in January?" Chester asked.

"Yes. The end of the month."

"You're going to look beautiful."

"Thank you." Chester had seen me try on the dress a little later than everyone else on the day that I had bought it. "You liked the dress?" I asked.

"The dress is lovely. I think that it's the first time that I've ever seen you in one."

"And it will likely be the last."

Which was completely true. My wedding dress was the only dress that I owned. Chester grinned. "Got a plan for the base?" Chester asked, changing the subject again.

"Been working on one. The guys have everything set," I said.

"Good," Chester said.

"Victoria!" Howard shouted from the front of the plane. "Let's chat."

"Let's not," I shot back.

"Come up here. Just for a second," Howard goaded.

If it meant that he would leave me along for a little while. I slowly strode up to Howard, promising that I would talk to Chester and everyone else about the plan soon. "What's up?" I asked Howard.

"What took you and Barnes so long to get out here this morning?" Howard asked curiously.

Now why hadn't I seen that one coming? That was stupid of me. "What the hell is it with all of you?" I snapped, whacking Howard over the back of the head with one of the files that he had sitting in the open seat next to him. He grunted in pain. "Don't you all have something better to be talking about? Like the mission! We just weren't watching the clocks. We overslept."

"Oh, is that so?" Howard asked disbelievingly.

"Yes, Howard," I deadpanned.

"I'm not sure that I completely believe you," Howard chirped.

"I'm not completely sure that I care," I snapped.

"Don't be rude," Howard said. I glared at him as I plopped myself down into the copilot's seat. "Come on, you can tell me the truth."

He was goading me into saying something. I knew that he was. "Oh? How many people are going to know once I tell you?" I asked.

"You know that what I tell you stays between us."

"I'm sure."

"Come on. Tell me."

He really wasn't going to leave this one alone. "Nothing's happened, Howard. Nothing's going to happen until we actually get married," I said as convincingly as possible.

"Almost a year from now?" Howard pointed out.

"I'm not you. I know something called self-control," I shot back.

Howard gave me another nasty glare. "Somehow I doubt that," he scoffed as the plane reached altitude. I glared at him again. "Are you aware that your eyes are still red?"

"They are not!" I shouted.

"Are too," Howard sang. Were they really? "Are you that angry?"

His voice held a teasing lilt to it as I leaned into him, flames tingling at the tips of my fingers. "You keep your mouth shut, you hear me?" I growled. Howard nodded, grinning, thinking that he had gotten me to admit something. "Chester's already getting suspicious about the fact that Bucky and I sleep in the same bed. If he hears you saying anything, he'll automatically think the worst."

"So there is something happening?" Howard asked excitedly.

"No!" I shouted.

"Will you tell me when it does?"

"No, you cow! Fly the damn plane."

"You can trust me, Victoria."

Despite the smile on his face, there was something sincere behind his words. Howard was the last person to judge me for this. "I can't trust you to not say anything about... that..." I muttered awkwardly.

Like Steve, I didn't want to actually go into detail with it. "Oh, Victoria, you're too precious," Howard laughed. I rolled my eyes. I should have known that he would laugh at me. "Embarrassed to say something like that. You two are about to be a married couple."

"Would you shut up?" I snapped.

"No, I don't think that I will," Howard said, throwing back in my face what I had told so many people before. "Come on, tell me what's been happening between the two of you. I'm sure that there are some fascinating stories."

"Don't you have a relationship to focus on?" I groaned.

"No."

No way. I knew that he was seeing someone. "What happened to that nurse?"

"The nurse?" Howard asked confusedly.

What life must have been like for Howard Stark, who didn't even remember all of his lovers. "You were dating some woman. She was a nurse, I think. Howard, you took her on a few dates a couple of weeks ago," I explained. Howard looked no less confused about her existence. "I saw you kiss her just the other day!"

That finally triggered something. "Oh, Dorothy!" Howard said. I nodded, but Howard's face fell into a confused line again. "Diana? Dot?" My face fell. Was he kidding? He waved the thoughts off. "Something like that."

"You're quite the romantic," I scoffed.

"Comes from being a billionaire, darling. I could have anyone I want."

"So you do?" I questioned.

"Pretty much."

It must be quite something. To win the affections from Howard Stark for even just a night."

Howard gave me a prideful grin. One of these days I would have to force him to shave his head or something. Just to knock him down a peg or two. But knowing Howard, he would manage to make being bald the 'in' look. Oh well. I would have fun watching Howard as he grew older. Watching the wrinkles settle over his face. Laughing as his hair began to turn gray and there was nothing that he could do to stop it. Perhaps I would like to laugh at him as I remained young and reasonably pretty and he became old and defiled. A wicked grin spread over my face.

"It will always be something for them to compare to," Howard said haughtily.

"Doubtful," I scoffed. "I didn't."

Howard's face fell. "Don't be an ass," he snapped.

"That's rich, coming from you," I pointed out.

The two of us scowled at each other for a few seconds. It was just the way that we were. Constantly bickering. Eventually Howard grinned, going back to our original topic of discussion. "Would you like some advice about -?"

"No!" I shouted over Howard, drawing the attention of some of the others. Howard grinned, knowing that he had gotten me flustered, as he so often did. "No, I don't want any advice like that. I'll figure it out - when the time comes - for myself."

"And that time will be?" Howard asked.

"Fly the damn plane!" I shouted.

As I hopped up from my chair, I whacked Howard over the back of his head, ignored his grunt of pain, and headed off. "Why do I keep hearing you shouting at everyone?" Peggy asked, falling into step with me.

"Because everyone keeps asking me about why Bucky and I were late to the air field," I grumbled.

"Oh," Peggy said, nodding understandingly. "So why were you late?"

She was giving me a playful grin as I turned my scowl on her. "I love you, Peggy, but if you ask me that again, I'm going to throw you from the plane," I barked.

"So you were -"

"No!" I interrupted loudly. "Would anyone like to talk about the actual mission?"

"No," they all called back.

Running my hand over my very red face, I turned back to Peggy and sighed. "You know, I think I'm going to sit at the back of the plane. Come find me when we're in Greece," I mumbled.

"I'll go with you," she said.

The two of us immediately headed off towards the back of the plane, where no one else was. It was fine with me. I didn't really want to deal with them right now. As I walked past the table in the center of the plane, I saw that the rest of the men seemed to be harassing Bucky about what took the two of us so long to get ready this morning. Chester was standing in the background, trying to ignore them, his eyes boring holes into the back of Bucky's head. My face burned with embarrassment as I hurried past. Would they actually know when it happened?

Peggy and I darted into the back of the plane and placed ourselves in the jump seats. Thankfully it was so loud back here that I couldn't hear them harassing Bucky up front. "So nothing happened?" Peggy asked curiously.

"Well -"

"What?" Peggy interrupted excitedly.

"Let me talk!" I shouted over her. She merely smiled, bouncing in her seat like an excitable child. "No... Nothing really happened. Bucky and I were in bed and... fooling around... and that's when Steve knocked on the door to get us. That's it."

Peggy nodded thoughtfully. "But something almost happened?"

"Something... might happen... afterwards..." I said awkwardly.

"Really?" Peggy gasped.

"You look more excited for it than I am," I teased.

Peggy rolled her eyes. "Somehow I really doubt that." We both snorted. "No matter whether or not it happens tonight, are you ready for it?" Peggy asked. I remained silent. She was always good for real advice. "Think about it right now. Away from your bed, away from him, not doing anything right now. Are you ready?"

A few seconds passed that the two of us just stared at each other. I started thinking on her words. Was I ready? My answer was instant. "Yes," I said. Peggy smiled. "We're going to be married soon. But... I really want this. It's not just a physical thing. It's about being completely with someone."

"You're right. And you found someone that you wanted to be with. In every way."

"Plus we only have a set number of years to be with each other."

"Everyone does, Victoria."

"But at least they get to hope that they can be with each other in the end, after the both of them die. There's none of that for me," I said sadly.

"You know that he would wait for you anyways," she said.

That didn't really make me feel any better, even though I knew that she was trying to help me out. "I hate talking about this. It makes me dread the future, even though I know that it's years away," I groaned, waving her off.

"That's a good thing to remember. You two have plenty of happy years together," Peggy said, smiling.

"You're right," I said. The two of us sat together as I turned a playful grin on her. "Any advice for tonight?"

"Remember that you have a tendency to burst into flames when you're excited."

She wasn't exactly wrong. I did burst into flames sometimes and let out little bursts of lightning at others. Neither one of those would be good to have happen. At least, not for him. The two of us were staring at each other for a long time before we both burst out into fits of laughter. It didn't take long for me to have a hard time breathing through the choking laughs. I leaned up against Peggy as tears began to run down my face. Peggy did make a good point. I would have to remember that I did tend to do somewhat violent things when I got too excited.

"Maybe I should take one of those pills beforehand," I said thoughtfully.

There probably weren't supposed to be any homicidal tendencies in bed. "Probably a good idea. You know that you can talk to me if you need to," Peggy offered sweetly.

"I know. Thanks, Pegs," I said happily.

"You're welcome, love."

"So no judgement if I do?" I asked sheepishly.

Peggy shook her head comfortingly. "Not at all. I want you to be happy. And you'll be married soon enough," she pointed out.

"Did I tell you that we decided where to have it?"

"No!" Peggy gasped, her face turning up in a wide grin. "Where?"

"Back on Chester's farm. It's the place that gave me a new chance at life. The life where I finally got to have what I wanted. Real friends, a man who loves me, and a family," I explained.

Peggy smiled, pressing a hand against my knee. "That'll be beautiful."

It would definitely be a lovely night. The best one of my life. It would be a night that I would remember for all of eternity. "We were thinking about having someone cater. Bring in our favorite foods, hang up some lights the way that he did to propose to me, and set up some tables. It'll be a relatively small guest list anyways. Since most of our friends are his and we only have one side of the family coming," I told her.

Suddenly Peggy looked a little sheepish. "I always meant to ask..." she trailed off.

"No. I don't have any other family. My mother and father were both only children. When they died, that was it. My grandparents had died years before I was born," I explained numbly.

"I'm sorry for asking," Peggy said quickly.

"You were curious. That's okay."

"Your real family will be there."

"That's true."

My own family had long since left my life. My grandparents had never even known who I was. They died before my parents even married. They never knew that they had a grandchild and it was probably better that way. There were no aunts and uncles or cousins. My entire family had been very small. Would my parents even believe that I was getting married? No. They didn't love me and didn't believe that anyone ever would. What I wouldn't give to throw back my success in life in their faces. But they were gone. I supposed that, in the end, I was alive and they weren't. I had won.

"Have you thought about anything else?" Peggy asked, breaking my reasonably depressing thoughts.

"Like?" I asked dumbly.

Peggy stared at me like I had lost my mind. "Like everything, Vicky!"

"I got the place and dress. What else is there?"

Peggy rolled her eyes halfway back into her head. "You're hopeless," she groaned. I scowled at her. She was getting as bad as Howard. "I thought that Bucky would at least tell you everything else that needs to go into planning a wedding. Do you have a guest list?"

For a night that was supposed to be relaxing, planning it was quite a nightmare. "Yeah. Most of it's Bucky's, but we've got that figured," I said.

"The wedding party?"

The party after the ceremony? "Huh?" I asked dumbly.

"The bridesmaids and groomsmen, you monkey!" Peggy shouted.

Oh... That made much more sense. "Don't be rude," I hissed. Peggy merely stared at me. "I don't know. Bucky's having his brother, Steve as the best man, and the rest of the guys. They saved his life, after all."

"What about Howard?"

"Oh, yeah. Him too," I added.

It had been a few nights ago when neither one of us could sleep that we had decided on who was going to be up at the altar with us. I had told Bucky that I really didn't care. He was the one who wanted the traditional wedding. It was what his parents would have wanted to see. I would have rather just gone to the courthouse and gotten the paper and be done with it, but I wanted him to be happy. So I had decided to let him have it. I merely smiled and went along with his plans for whatever he wanted.

"That's nice. That's it?" Peggy asked.

"Yeah."

"And you?"

"I've got you," I said.

"Who else?" Peggy asked.

Maybe it would look a little weird to have eight men up there and only one woman. "Honestly I don't really know any other women that I care enough about having in the wedding party. Maybe Bucky's sisters. Jessica and Rebecca," I said.

At least it would balance out a little more. "Are those the only girls that you know?" Peggy asked disbelievingly.

"Yes."

"Of course they are," Peggy scoffed.

Perhaps if a girl had ever shown any interest in being friends with me... "Oh, shut up," I snapped. Having no female friends wasn't my fault. I had tried. "When I was growing up no one knew me and the people who did hated me. I never got along with anyone, but I always did get along with guys a little bit better than girls. At least we had the same general attitudes."

Peggy seemed to know that I wasn't fond of talking about my failed relationships with other girls. "Do you have an actual date?" Peggy asked, going back to the wedding conversation.

"January 31st," I said.

Her eyes lit up. "Oh, I'm so excited for you!" she chirped. I smiled at her. "Are you having an officiant?"

"No. We were planning on having Chester do it," I said.

That had been another one of Bucky's ideas. I had a feeling that he was trying to get Chester to like him even the slightest bit. "Might want to make sure that he cuts out the 'does anyone object' part," Peggy suggested. We both laughed again. "Have you sent out invitations?"

"I left that up to Bucky. Everyone that I want to invite is here," I answered.

"What about the marriage license?"

There seemed to be more and more things to do every day. "We're waiting to get that for a while. I think it only takes a week or so to get it. You're giving me a headache, Pegs," I said, pressing my fingers to my temples, blasting a shot of lightning into my synapses to calm them.

Peggy watching me with mild fascination. "Are you reciting vows?"

"Writing our own, I think."

"Have you written yours?"

Finally my head sprang up from the seat. "No! We're not getting married for almost another year. I'll write the vows when we get a little bit closer to the actual wedding," I said shortly.

"You're going to get up there and wing it, aren't you?" Peggy groaned.

"Yep!" I chirped.

"You can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Because you have to have some time to think about exactly what you want to say to him."

If I started thinking about it, I was sure to end up nervous about it. "I love you to death, Peggy, but I'm not really in the mood to talk about the wedding today," I told her.

"When are you in the mood?" Peggy asked.

Never. That was the whole point. I rolled my eyes. "Help me out with the planning, will you?"

"For tonight?" Peggy asked, waggling her eyebrows.

We both laughed loudly. Maybe it was a good idea if I thought about tonight. Planned... something. Just so that it wasn't a total surprise. "If you mention that to any of the boys, I'll kill you. Best friend or not," I snapped.

"Oh, please. I doubt that they've heard the term, don't shoot the messenger," Peggy scoffed.

"You're right. They'd take it out on you."

"Absolutely. If you need to talk about it, seriously, I'm here."

"Thanks."

The two of us smiled at each other. I was sure that I would need to chat with Peggy in the morning, no matter what happened tonight. "Peggy," Bucky called, stepping up behind us. "Can I borrow her for a second?"

"Sure," Peggy said immediately.

She patted me on the knee and I grinned at her. Bucky likely knew exactly what the two of us were talking about but I knew that he wouldn't say anything about it. He knew that there were some things that I needed to talk to her about. This was one of them. Plus, Peggy was my only female friend. She was the only one who I could bounce things off of. As Peggy walked back into the main area of the plane, Bucky took a seat in the one that she had been in before. As I turned to him, Bucky grabbed me under the thighs and pulled me into his lap.

"Got bored up there?" I teased.

"Wanted to talk," Bucky said.

"We live together. This wasn't something that can wait?" I asked playfully.

Bucky merely continued to stare at me. He didn't want to joke around, which I wanted to do. I didn't like the serious talks. I wasn't good at them. It was something that I wanted to talk about before we get back to the base later," Bucky said. I nodded slowly. Here it goes... "I wanted to talk about what you said this morning."

"Yeah, I figured," I said.

"I just want to make sure that it's not something that I'm rushing you into," Bucky said quickly.

That definitely wasn't what I had been expecting. I had thought that he knew that I wanted it as badly as he did. "It's not. It's really not. I promise. We've been together a long time. We're getting married in under a year. We sleep in the same bed together anyways," I pointed out. We both laughed as Bucky pressed a kiss against my forehead. "Do you want this?"

"Do you honestly have to ask?" Bucky shot back.

I laughed softly. "No. I know you do," I said. I didn't have to be a mind-reader to know that he did.

"Just don't feel like you have to do it."

"I don't. And the same goes for you."

"I don't. I want to have all the time that I can with you."

That horrible shot of guilt seared through my chest again. "I'm sorry," I whispered.

"For?" Bucky asked curiously.

"Having to put an expiration date on our relationship."

"There would have been one anyways. One of the two of us would have died first," Bucky said.

But there was something different about the way that our relationship would eventually end. "It just would have felt different. We both would have been mortal. And we would have at least had the faith that once one of us died, the other would follow relatively soon afterwards, and then maybe we could have been reunited in the afterlife," I said hopefully. "Now... once you die, we're over."

Bucky let out a soft breath as he pulled me up right against his lap. "We're never gonna be over. Not really. Even when you manage to move on - even if it's decades after I die - no one can ever live up to this," Bucky said.

It didn't escape my notice that he had said when I moved on. He didn't seem to understand that I would never move on. Perhaps many years after he died, I would end up having a crush on someone else. Maybe having some minor feelings or a flutter in my chest. But nothing would ever compare to the love that Bucky and I had for each other. No one could ever truly help me move on. He would always be with me, but just as a memory. There was no reuniting for us. I wasn't religious anyways, but I couldn't even pretend to think that it was a possibility now.

"You're right," I whispered, wanting to avoid the fight.

"I didn't know that you were religious," Bucky said curiously.

The last thing that I believed in was a powerful god. "I'm not. There's no way that there can be a god out there that creates someone like me. That lets what happened to me happen not just to me, but to hundreds of other people just like me. It's not just us, it's all of the bad in the world. I don't know... if I created all of this, I wouldn't just abandon it or doom it. I'd help," I said.

Who would create someone like me? No one with any sense of right and wrong. "That's why I love you," Bucky said with a grin.

"Hmm?"

"Because you never abandon someone, no matter how hard things get."

One of the things that Stryker had gifted me with. "Giving up isn't in me, I guess," I said.

"Good," Bucky said happily.

Perhaps because he knew that it meant that I wouldn't give up on him either. "You are religious, aren't you?" I asked curiously.

The Barnes' used to always pray at dinnertime. I remembered not ever doing it with them. "Yes," Bucky said slowly, sounding like he was trying not to offend me. "But we haven't had the same lives or the same experiences. You have every right to not believe in something - or believe in it."

"That's a nice sentiment," I said.

"It's the truth."

"You're quite positive."

"One of us has to be," Bucky teased.

There was a bright smile on his face. He looked like he always did - happy and playful. It seemed so strange that he was attracted to someone like me. I always saw the worst in people. It was hard for me to start joking around and lose my hardened exterior. He was so open and warm. Me? I was cold. Bucky was still grinning at my joke but I realized that he was right. I had always been the downer. That didn't seem to be changing anytime soon. He had always been the one to see the light in everything. He was always the nice one. Not me. Never me.

"You still have a chance to back out of this, you know," I said slowly. Bucky raised a brow. "You don't have to marry me."

The smile finally fell from his face. "Would you stop?" Bucky snapped irritably. I jumped slightly. Maybe I shouldn't have said that. "I want this, Vika. No matter what it means. I've still got a long life ahead of me. And I intend to spend all of it with you."

"You don't want someone cheerier than me?" I asked carefully.

The last thing that I wanted to do was annoy him, but I really did want to know why he didn't want someone more like me. "I think that it would start to grind on my nerves. I don't love you because you've always got something positive to say. I love you because you tell the truth, no matter what that truth is," Bucky said. Was that really a good thing? In his mind it seemed to be. "And you might not always laugh or smile, but I know how to get you to. It's one of the things that I'm the most proud of."

"Liar," I said.

Bucky shook his head, grabbing my shin tightly. "Am not. You are the single best person that I've ever met. One day I hope that you see it," Bucky said softly, brushing the hair back off of my forehead. My chest began to glow a gentle red, the same red that it did every time that he said something like that to me. Bucky glanced down and smiled. "I love that."

"I hate that," I scoffed.

"Nah, you can't pretend that you think that I'm a twit," Bucky teased.

"You are a twit."

"Yeah, but I'm a twit that loves a brilliant woman." I laughed softly. The two of us sat in silence for a few moments before Bucky said, "The men are talking about going back to the bar tonight."

"Oh?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah."

"What if I was making other plans?" I asked teasingly.

"I'll cancel them all," Bucky said brightly.

Hopefully that got across what I wanted to tell him without actually having to say it. I wanted him to see that I wanted it too. Bucky pressed a small kiss against my mouth as Peggy walked back in. He jumped from her chair and headed off. I smiled at him as he headed back towards the rest of the men. I was glad that he was leaving me to think for a while, but I also wanted to still talk to him. Maybe planning for it was wrong, though. Maybe it was something that needed to happen in the heat of the moment. That seemed a little more romantic.

"What was that about?" Peggy asked curiously.

"Umm..." I muttered.

"Vic! Peggy! We're ready to talk about the mission," Steve called from up front.

"Finally," I gasped, lunging off of the seat and to my feet. "Something other than my relationship with Bucky." Peggy opened her mouth to say something, but I quickly cut her off. "Look, Pegs, you're basically my wedding planner and therapist. I'll talk to you about everything later, okay? In the meantime, I'm getting the hankering to kill someone."

Sparks began crackling off of my fingertips. "You astound me, how fast you can change gears," Peggy said, staring at me blankly.

"It's a gift," I teased.

We both laughed as we got up off of the bench that we had been seated on before. I smiled at Peggy as we walked off, my arm looped up over her shoulder. Even though she was a few inches taller than me, I always had my arm over hers. The two of us walked out of the back storage area and up towards the front of the plane. The two of us headed up to the table, where everyone else was waiting for us. I positioned myself in between Steve and Chester, with Bucky across from me.

"How we doing, Howard?" I called up to the cockpit.

"Got about an hour to go!" Howard called back.

"Perfect. Steve?" I said, giving the floor to him.

He nodded and threw out a map of Greece over the table. "When we were at the Hydra base a few weeks ago, Vic found out about something called the Hydra Uber Tank," Steve explained to the others. They all nodded. They had all been there. "It's in pre-production right now. Test phases. There's a functioning one in the Grecian base. It's the same one that attacked you in Azzano. Our job today is to destroy the base with all of the plans for the mass-production of the tanks and to take out the currently operational one."

"Which is what they'll likely send once they realize that we're here," I cut in.

"What's the plan, boss?" Dum Dum asked.

"It's a very simple one," I said, interrupting Steve before he got the chance to speak. He gave me a small nod to keep talking. "Falsworth."

"Ma'am?" James asked.

"Recognize these?" I offered, holding up a belt of explosives.

His mouth turned up in a smile. "Of course," James said happily.

Handing the bombs off to James, with a barked warning to be careful, I turned to everyone else. "The rest of us have one job. Draw the soldiers and Hydra Uber Tank out of the base. James, you're going to stay as close to the Uber Tank as possible. Toss those explosives up to Steve and me. We'll take it from there," I explained.

The others nodded their consent. "It that simple?" Dum Dum asked curiously.

"Just don't get shot," I said.

The others laughed. "Good advice, boss," Jim said.

As we all smiled at each other, I pointed down to the district that we knew the Uber Tank was being stored near. "That Uber Tank will inflict maximum damage. It's what it's designed for, so we can assume that they'll release it on the streets. Your job is to keep the soldiers in the buildings that surround the main road," I said, motioning to the outskirts of the town.

"Bucky, you're taking out any strays on our tail," Steve instructed.

"Got it," Bucky said.

"They made that Uber Tank thicker than any other that's around," I said, pulling out the paperwork that I had taken from Willem a few weeks ago. "Damaging the outside of the tank will take too long to disable it. Our only option is to go inside and blow apart the systems, make them start back from scratch."

"We're entering from the woods," Steve added.

"You'll all go in first," I said, pointing to the others, excluding Bucky. "Steve and I will be at a distance, watching over you. I'll step in if need be. Please don't need me."

"How long are we in there for?" Dum Dum asked.

"Jacques, you'll be setting off charges in the surrounding buildings. Draw in the soldiers, take them out in mass chunks. You'll have five minutes to draw them in before Steve and I come to attack the Uber Tank," I told the men. They all nodded their consent to the plan. "We'll assist Bucky in keeping the strays engaged in the fight. We're good?"

"Absolutely," Jacques confirmed.

"We've got a few maps of the streets. Take a look," Steve said, spreading out the maps.

"Get used to them," I instructed.

As we spread out the maps that were closer towards the streets, the men closed in around the table. They began marking off everything that they were planning on attacking - some stores, other abandoned homes, and plenty of already decrepit buildings well on their way to collapsing. Chester and Peggy were marking up the maps, showing the others where we would run into the least amount of Hydra soldiers. A man had already mapped out for us where the Hydra soldiers would be observing in bulk.

Our large group took a long time talking about the best way for us all to attack the base. The men needed to go in a light it up first. They could distract all of the Hydra soldiers from what Steve and I were planning to do. And Bucky could keep Steve safe so that I didn't have to worry about keeping an eye on him. The men took some time to decide which one of them would be going where and who would be protecting each side of the block.

"Remember, you don't want to be caught until you're already well into the block," I said.

"Count to one hundred. That's when you'll light it up," Steve added.

"You got it," Gabe said.

"We almost there?" I called up to Howard.

"Sixty seconds out."

We all began to nod as the plane made its descent. "Get everything together. We'll be landing at the airstrip. Town is barely a two minute drive. Take a truck, get to the edge of town, head to your respective areas," I told the men.

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am," Dum Dum teased, tilting his hat to me.

"We'll wait here," I said.

"See you soon," Bucky said, pressing a quick kiss against my mouth.

As he turned to leave, I shouted back, "Hey! Be careful."

Bucky grinned, sloppily saluting me. "Always. You too."

"Always," I said.

The two of us gave each other another quick kiss as Bucky walked back up to me. He patted Steve on the back before turning and leaving with the others, his rifle slung over his back. As the men turned and left the plane with their weapons, I watched through Bucky's eyes - without telling him - as they hijacked a car that sat at the edge of the road. Bucky went with them, hopping out up in the hills to lay on his stomach and take out the stragglers. We would have about four minutes before Steve and I could attack the Hydra Uber Tank.

In the meantime, we were going to handle any strays that Bucky couldn't handle. "Ready?" Steve asked, shifting around slightly.

"Let's go, soldier," I teased, patting him on the back.

As we walked down the ramp, Steve turned to me. "You okay?" he asked.

"He's at a distance. He's good. I've got my eye on you. I'm fine," I said, nervously wringing my hands together.

"Vic?" Steve interrupted.

"Yeah?"

"Relax. You don't have to baby either one of us."

He had to have been joking. There was no way that I was ever going to stop babying them. I would always do that. "Are you kidding? You're both complete morons. I'll always have to baby the two of you," I teased.

Steve laughed, whacking me over the back of the head. "Love you, Vic."

As we walked, I stomped on his foot. "Love you too, Steve."

"Always glad to have you around."

"Always glad to not be alone." The two of us grinned at each other. I glanced off towards the further hills and spotted a few Hydra soldiers. "Got a couple of strays over there," I warned, motioning to the group of soldiers entering our range.

"Bank left?" Steve asked.

"You got it," I said.

As Steve ran after a few Hydra soldiers off to his right, I darted after a number on the left. Instantly I went into a front flip, kicking into one of their heads so hard that their skull dented. As they fell, I spun on my hands and over my butt, getting back to my knees, and flipping over a kick meant to break my ankles. I spun onto my back and flipped back up to my feet. I spun into myself and lashed out, denting their skull with the side of my fist as it made contact with their temple. As another Hydra soldier ran after me, I kicked them in the stomach and flipped over myself, kicking them in the ribs.

They went flying backwards as I stared at them. As another ran after me, I ducked down into a split before spinning up onto my back, throwing my legs over each other, and then kicking him in the shins, making him collapse to the ground. The bones had definitely snapped. Once I had gotten back to my feet, I saw another Hydra soldier approaching Steve. Darting over to him at full speed, I jumped up into the air, wrapped my legs around his throat, and leaned back to the ground, rolling him underneath me. Steve jammed his shield into his windpipe, cutting off his oxygen.

The two of us grinned at each other as I released my hold on the dead man. I leaped back to my feet, spotting a Hydra soldier, and caught his arm across as he tried to punch me. With my spare arm, I lashed out across his face with a closed fist. The man leaned back in pain and as he straightened up, I grabbed him across the throat, leaping over his back and straightening back, wrenching his arm back. It cracked out of place as I stepped down on his skull, denting and eventually cracking it open.

As another man ran at me, I had no time to think to do anything other than grab onto him and use his momentum to flip the two of us backwards and over ourselves. He looked rather surprised when I hopped up to my feet and kneed his companion in the stomach, forcing him to lean over and throw up the food in his stomach. As the two got back to their feet - and a third approached - I grabbed the first around the arms and threw them into a tree, threw the second over my back, crushing their body against the ground, and roundhouse kicked the third in the sternum.

When a new man approached, I dropped to my knees, thrust upwards with a knife from my utility belt, cut out his knee, and spun around on my knees. I stabbed the second man in the stomach before reaching up and slashing his throat. As a man raised his rifle to shoot at me, I leaped up onto his shoulders, stabbing him in the throat before jumping to his companion. I threw the two of us into a sprawl before straightening up and slicing through his throat. As I ran towards town, I dropped onto my knees and slid in between the legs of another man, cutting out his thigh muscle.

As I darted back up and after Steve, someone caught me around the throat. Without thinking, I kicked out their knee, jumped up, wrapped a leg around their shoulders and threw us. As we spun against the ground I landed over him and burned a hole straight through his sternum. A spear shot through my chest and I turned towards the culprit as Steve called my name. I really like this shirt. I turned towards the man with a deep glare, bending the bones in his body further inwards, watching as they punctured his organs, slowly and painfully killing him.

Steve yelled my name to draw my attention back to the fight and away from the dying man. I ripped the spear out of my chest and jumped up in time to avoid a body check from a Hydra soldier. When I jumped, I landed with my legs wrapped around their throat. As the soldier began to panic, I threw two heavy fists down into their eyes before flipping back off of them, landing on my feet again. As I sprinted after them, I wrapped my legs over their throat, spun myself around upside down against their chest before straightening out, throwing them against the stone.

The man looked like he was trying to get back up, but one kick to the temple took him out. Another Hydra soldier ran after me as I sent two consecutive kicks to his sternum, throwing him backwards. As he tried to run after me again, I rolled underneath his legs and straightened up again. I ducked underneath another punch and blocked two more before stepping back and running to build up momentum, throwing myself over his back and spinning over his front, throwing him as I landed back on my feet. He grunted as I flipped over myself and jammed my heel into his throat.

Grinning at my work, I straightened up and saw another man running at me. I ducked under his kick and grabbed onto his planted leg. I rolled over my back, spinning and tripping him. He grunted as I briefly stepped upwards to spin over his leg and drop again onto my back, pinning his leg under me and subsequently breaking it. He shouted in howling pain as I hopped up, ran to a pillar, bounced off of it and punched one of his friends. He looked rather surprised as I swung a leg underneath me, tripped him, and spun backwards to kick him in the head.

Both men passed out as I rolled back to straighten myself up and kick back up to my feet again. There was a man advancing on me and I met him in a run. As we reached each other, I jumped up and jammed my knees straight into his ribs. They snapped under the strain, pressing back into his lungs and heart. I hit the ground in a sideways roll, straightening up and blocking a punch from another man. I sent two consecutive punches to his face before kicking out his knee, reaching my arms around his neck, and pulling him down to crush his skull against the dirt.

As a man pulled a gun on me, I ducked underneath the bullet and reached up, throwing a knife by the blade, lodging it in his arm. I spun on my knee, kicking his leg out, before ripping the knife out of his arm and shoving it in between his jaws. Another Hydra soldier using a whip came after me, slashing out at my stomach. I grabbed onto the end of it, rolled it around my hand, and yanked it out of his hold. I spun it around and lashed out at him, leaving a nasty mark on his cheek, blood rushing into his eyes.

The men were fighting hard in the streets as I heard the engine of the Uber Tank roar to life. Steve and I rushed into the streets and though the buildings, darting in between the men and Hydra soldiers. As a man darted towards Gabe, I threw myself up and over a railing that separated me from the street. I flipped over myself, wrapping a leg back around his throat, kicking his gun out of his hands. The two of us fell into a forward roll as I left him on the ground, moving up onto a knee and spinning a kick straight into his temple.

"Thanks," Gabe said breathlessly.

"Not a problem," I said, jumping back to my feet. At that same moment, I saw the Uber Tank moving into the center of the street. They were ready to detonate the street to try and kill us. "Steve! We gotta get to the men! The tank is out there!"

"Alright. Come on!" Steve yelled.

The street was still full of civilians who were trying to get away from the fight. I pushed the thought into their head to evacuate the area. In the meantime, the men were trying to get them away and fight off the remaining Hydra soldiers. They knew that Steve, James, and I had it handled. Steve and I made a mad dash towards the center of the town, where Hydra had unleashed the Uber Tank on the small city. They were trying to draw us in to save the citizens, thinking that they would kill us in the meantime.

"James! Follow us!" I shouted.

"Straight up," Steve instructed.

We had to get almost sixty feet in the air to the top of the tank. "Hurry up. They're preparing to fire," I grunted.

"Can you pull the barrel away?" Steve asked me.

The barrel was facing towards the civilian evacuation route the men had created. "No worries," I said.

Everyone was already on their way out, but that tank could fire way further. Steve and I dashed towards the tank as fast as we could. I let off a blast of fire, keeping the Hydra soldiers out. As Steve jumped up towards the hatch on the top of the tank, I jumped up onto the front of the tank. I could see Steve using his shield to break the lock on the hatch. I reached around the barrel and used my own strength with a gust of wind to force it towards the crumbling buildings on the far end of the street, just in case they managed to fire.

The Hydra soldiers were running towards us as I slammed my fist down onto the metal, using my force field to protect Steve. The electrical blast fried all of the soldiers inside the tank, dying almost on the spot. The electrical blast shot through the streets and killed all of the soldiers. Their bodies blackened into crisps as they hit the ground. I could see the rest of the men laughing, continuing to shuttle the refugees away and towards the Grecian army members, who had come to help, even though it was too little too late. At least they could held the people. I certainly didn't want to.

James came running up to the side of the tank, carrying the bombs. "Captain!" James shouted.

"Over here!" I yelled, drawing his attention.

After all, I was closer. James jumped up and threw the belt of explosives to me. I caught them and hit the trigger to start the ten second countdown before turning and throwing it to Steve. He caught them easily and threw them down into the tank. He closed the hatch as Steve and I ran to the edge of the tank and jumped off, hitting the ground in a tuck and roll as a massive explosion behind us set off. The tank blew into a thousand pieces as Steve and I hit the ground, turning back to look at the smoldering remains of the Uber Tank.

There was a large crater in the ground from the explosion. "Not bad for a day's work," I sighed, brushing the dirt and blood off of my uniform.

"Nice," Steve complimented, looking back to the ashes of what had once been the Uber Tank. They definitely weren't salvaging anything from that. "Should we do anything with that?"

"No. It'll be ashes by the time that the Hydra reinforcements get here. I wouldn't worry about it," I said.

As we walked back to the base, James smiled at us. "Good catch," he said.

"Good throw," Steve responded.

We all smiled as we headed back towards the plane. "That was one of the easier missions that we had," Bucky said.

The other men nodded their consent. "Says the one who laid on his stomach on a hill the entire time. Not down here doing the hard stuff with the rest of us," I said teasingly, grinning at him.

Everyone began laughing as Bucky hissed, "Excuse you!"

"What are you gonna do about it, you big baby?" I teased.

"I'll -"

Ignoring whatever clever insult I was sure that he was going to come up with, I brought up a pile of rocks from the rubble of the Hydra Uber Tank and cemented them in a circle around Bucky's feet as he tried to launch after me. Probably to try and playfully tackle me, just to prove that he could one-up me. But he never could. Unable to keep his balance or break free of the rocks, clearly surprised, he collapsed in front of me, sprawling out on the ground. The rest of the men howled with laughter as I released my hold on the rocks.

They fell around his feet as Bucky rolled onto his back, Steve helping him back to his feet. "You're an ass," Bucky groaned.

"Yes, I am," I said proudly.

Dum Dum laughed happily, patting me on the back. "Victoria... I'll never get sick of watching you," he said.

"Thanks. Come on, big guy. Get up," I barked at Bucky, who was still laying on the ground.

He merely stared at me irritably as I brought up a large gust of wind and lifted him back to his feet while blowing him forward so hard that he nearly went sprawling into the dirt all over again. As Bucky stumbled into a steady walk, Steve and the others laughed again. "Just remember, you were stupid enough to ask to spend the rest of your life with her," Steve teased him.

"What was I thinking?" Bucky groaned, rubbing his back.

"Now that was uncalled for," I snapped.

There was no need to be that much of a jerk. Of course, I had definitely asked for it this time. The men all continued to laugh as we headed back towards where the airplane was waiting. We had all warned Howard, Chester, and Peggy that this mission wasn't going to take long. After all, this wasn't heavily occupied territory because of the Uber Tank. It had barely taken us ten minutes to clear everything. It was Hydra's mistake. They were now down a tank and had lost their control of another city. As we walked back up the ramp for the plane, I smiled at Chester.

"No issues?" Chester asked.

"None," I confirmed.

"We have to talk."

"About?"

Not even a thank you... We were done with one problem and on to the next. "Our next plan of action. We need your team away for a few weeks, at least. However long it takes," Chester said.

We had never done an away mission. That would be interesting. "What's the newest plan?" I asked curiously.

"Gather everyone," Chester ordered.

"Guys!" I shouted, drawing the attention of the laughing and celebrating team. "Get over here!"

"What's going on, Colonel?" Steve asked, reaching us first.

Chester brought everyone out to the table and laid out a map of Europe with a few cities marked. "There are just a few bases that you haven't attacked yet. Of the ones that we still know about," Chester began.

"What are those?" I asked, my eyes scanning the page.

Chester began motioning around the map. "We know of two Hydra bases in Switzerland and two in Northern Italy. We haven't cleared those out yet. That's where we're planning on heading next. You'll have a few weeks to plan the next attack."

Easy enough. We would be able to handle those. The problem was that there were so many and attacking one would immediately alert the others that we were in the vicinity to give them time to prepare. "We could do a back-to-back attack on the four bases. Head to Switzerland first. Attack both of theirs and quickly move along to Northern Italy to clear those out," I suggested.

"We could even break up the team," Steve put in.

"Send half of us one place and half of us to the other," Bucky added.

The thought of sending half of them to a place where I couldn't watch over them sent a painful jolt through my stomach. "No. We're a team. We don't separate. We can do it together," I said determinedly.

Steve obviously knew my concern. He was silent for a moment before saying, "Vic's right."

"No offense, Cap, but I don't really like the idea of going to a Hydra base where Victoria isn't with us," Gabe said, making the others laugh.

"I'm not leaving you morons unattended," I huffed.

Chester shrugged. "It's up to you. Make a plan and bring it to us."

"What else do we have?" Steve asked.

Chester motioned over towards Denmark and I followed his hand in between the Baltic and North Sea. "There's a castle up in the Danish Straights that we believe is under Hydra rule." Not easy, but doable. "We know of a heavily Hydra-occupied area deep in the forests of Poland. At some point we're anticipating an attack on France," Chester added.

"Is that everything?" I asked.

"That we know of. We're still missing the main Hydra base," Chester said.

"Do you have any idea where it is?" I asked the others.

The men who had been prisoners of Hydra exchanged a look but all shook their heads. "They never mentioned anything about it," Gabe explained.

"But there's one person who would know," Dum Dum said thoughtfully.

My eyebrow raised. "That little doctor that was always hanging around," Jim said.

"Doctor Zola?" I questioned.

Bucky clicked his tongue. "That's the one. He was always around and was the one to bring me to isolation instead of letting one of the soldiers kill me when I got sick," Bucky said. I guessed there was one thing that I owed to Zola. "If anyone would know where it was, who might give up the location, it'll be him."

"Run with that. Find out where Zola is," Chester ordered.

If he was the one person who would give up where the base was and how we got to that, finding Zola would become our main priority. I was sick of hunting Hydra. There had to be something else that we could do. Our group gathered around the table and began planning for the upcoming attacks. They would definitely be more intensive than the ones that we had already made. Ultimately we made the decision to stay away from the base for a few days or weeks at a time when we started going on our next few missions instead of just leaving for the day.

It was easy to see that it was a decision that the others didn't really like. No one wanted to be away from the place that they called home for an extended period of time. Especially not in a war. But being away would make things easier for us. We would have time to plan rather than just making an attack. We would also have a base to stay at while we remained overseas. The other Allies were more than willing to host Captain America and his crew. We would see how they would react to Savage. I just wished that we didn't have to leave Chester, Howard, and Peggy while we were away.

The only good thing about it was that we would at least have a phone at the other bases we would be staying at, just like the one that we currently had. Every now and again I would see Bucky chatting with his siblings on it. When we were out in the woods we would have the radios to communicate with. Plus we always had me. We would also be working with hundreds of other Allied soldiers. It would all work out just fine for us. We just had to get used to working with a bigger team. At least I would have Bucky with me while we were overseas this time. I missed him - and worried - too much while we were separated.

Eventually Howard warned us that we were finally approaching the base, nearly ten hours after we had left this morning. The sun was already beginning to sink. We all quickly disembarked the plane and headed back to our respective rooms to change from our uniforms. I headed back to the room that Peggy and I still technically shared. Mostly since any formal things that I (Peggy) owned were still there. We all had an agreement to go the bar a little later. Mostly since it was still early evening and heading to bed right away would have looked strange to the others.

Regardless of what was going to happen tonight, I made a deal with the others that I wouldn't stay long. I still got strange stares that I wasn't comfortable with when I went there. It would definitely be interesting living on a base with people who weren't used to me. Either way, I made an agreement that I would stay for one song and dance before leaving for bed - one way or another. Once I had slipped on one of Peggy's pretty white dresses, letting her quickly do my hair and makeup, the two of us left the room to meet up with everyone else.

All of the men were standing outside of the bar, waiting for us. They grinned and walked inside. Bucky: met me halfway, pressing a kiss against my cheek. "You look lovely," he said.

"Thank you. So do you," I said honestly.

He did. He had always looked wonderful in a uniform. "Care for a dance?" Bucky asked, walking us into the bar.

"Not really, but I have a feeling that you're going to make me dance even if I don't want to."

"Very true," Bucky grinned.

As we stepped out onto the dance floor, Bucky raised one arm up for the band to begin playing. The chipper piano music slowed to something a little different. It was an upbeat but sweet song that Bucky had showed me before. It was called 'Taking a Chance on Love.' Appropriate for the moment. I smiled knowingly at Bucky as we clasped hands and begin to slowly drift around the dance floor. Bucky gave me a brief kiss as the rest of the men, Peggy, Howard, and even Chester watched us with a small smiles. I gazed up at Bucky lovingly.

"Good choice," I said, referring to the song.

"I've got a good eye," Bucky teased, staring pointedly at me.

"Yes, you do," I teased.

The two of us spun around as the song played softly in the background. Even though I wanted to only dance for one song, the two of us ended up dancing for a number of them. Mostly Bing Crosby songs - Bucky's favorite artist. I danced with each of the men at their insistence. Jacques was definitely the best dancer. Dum Dum was definitely the worst. Steve had gotten much lighter on his feet lately. I even took a whirl with Howard - who was a near perfect dancer - and a fatherly dance with Chester.

We took some time to hang around the bar and chat with each other, laughing and giggling. I knew that I had to stay for a while before heading back. If Bucky and I left for bed at eight o'clock the men would know that something was going on. So we waited for Chester to head back to his own room before getting ready to leave ourselves. Bucky and I were lingering at the bar with the rest of the men as I finished up a game of darts with Steve. I won, of course. I was the only one who could beat Steve, who always beat everyone else.

"Are you ready to head back?" Bucky whispered in my ear.

"You know me. I'm always looking for a way out of dancing," I teased.

Bucky smiled, pressing a kiss against my hairline. "We don't have to do anything, Vika. I mean that. I'm just ready to spend some time with you," Bucky said softly.

Ever the perfect gentleman. "Like we don't spend enough time together?" I teased.

"No amount of time will ever be enough," Bucky said.

My cheeks warmed. "That's true. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah. Should we say goodbye to the rest of them?"

"It's the polite thing to do."

The two of us smiled at each other again. It was pushing eleven o'clock and a lot of people were filing out of the bar. But the men would be here until last call. Wanting some time alone with Bucky - one way or another - the two of us went to say goodbye to everyone else. I hugged all of the men and exchanged quick kisses on the cheeks as I wandered up to Peggy, giving her a quick hug. She had previously been chatting with Steve. The two of them seemed to be on much better terms these days. I grabbed Steve and pulled him into a tight hug.

"See you tomorrow. We'll get around to planning the attacks on the rest of the Hydra bases like Chester wanted," I told Steve.

"Works for me. Have a good night," Steve said.

Before we could leave, I shouted after Steve, "Ask Peggy to go dancing!"

He groaned. "Vic -"

"Oh, come on, Steve. I'm sure that if you asked Peggy to go dancing, she would say yes," I huffed.

"Vic!" Steve barked.

The moment that I opened my mouth to speak, someone else spoke over me. "As sweet as that gesture is, I was just planning on heading to bed. Perhaps the next time that you all come out I'll take you up on that offer of a dance. If it's still on the table," Peggy said slowly, grinning at Steve.

His face went bright red. "Well - I - I mean -"

"He means, yes," I put in.

Peggy grinned down at the ground as Steve went red again. Bucky walked up behind me, pressing a hand against my lower back. "Why don't we leave these two be for a while?" Bucky suggested.

"I'm just trying to help," I said.

"Goodnight, Victoria," Peggy said, smiling.

"We'll see," I teased, winking at her. Peggy laughed. "Night, Peggy."

"Shall we?" Bucky asked, motioning out onto the street.

"We shall."

The two of us waved off the men one last time before heading out into the open air. I drank in the slightly chilly air as we walked back towards the barracks together. Bucky and I clasped hands as he led us back towards our room. On our way back to the barracks Bucky and I chatted about the mission that we had gone on, laughing about how angry Schmidt likely was, and we chatted about the dances that we had shared tonight. Bucky had led me into a conversation about what kind of songs that we were hoping would play at our wedding.

As we wandered into the hallway, making our way towards our room, I stopped Bucky for a moment. "Give me a minute. I'm going to get changed," I said, motioning to my old room.

"Okay," Bucky said.

He squeezed my hand tightly for a second before releasing me. I turned and headed into the room that Peggy and I still technically shared. As I wandered into the bathroom, I felt my heart begin to race. At least, for me. It was a normal heart rate for a regular person. It was a good thing that I hadn't moved all of my things into Bucky's room yet. I needed just a moment to be by myself. I quickly changed into my silk pajamas and washed my face clean of the makeup that Peggy had put on me, rinsing out my curled hair so that it was straight again.

The entire time I was thinking about what was destined to happen tonight. Eventually I finished getting ready and wandered out of the room, heading back towards Bucky's. The second that I opened the door, my feet halted themselves. There were candles set out all throughout the room with lights strung up; the main light was off. It was the same way that the gardens had been decorated the night that he had proposed to me. Bucky was standing with two glasses of wine in his hands, smiling at me.

Slowly I wandered into the room and closed the door behind me. "This is..." I trailed off breathlessly.

"Not just for what you think," Bucky picked up my thought, handing me the extra glass of wine. "No matter what happens tonight, just know that I love you. For the last time, I know what a life with you means. There isn't a thing that you can say or do that'll change my mind."

A small grin moved over my face as I kissed Bucky. "It's beautiful," I whispered.

"It pales in comparison to you," Bucky said sweetly. My lips turned up in a disbelieving smile. How did I ever end up with someone like him? He would always love me, no matter what. "I mean it. If I could give you one thing in life, I would give you the ability to see yourself through my eyes, only then would you realize how special you are to me."

He clinked our glasses together. "You know, I don't think that I'll ever be able to see myself the way that you do. But that's okay. Because I'll always have you to remind me," I said, pressing a hand against his cheek.

"I'll do it every day for the rest of my life," Bucky promised.

"I'm sorry that I don't know how to say those things back to you."

"That's not why I'm with you. I'm with you because I love you just the way that you are. I don't need you any other way."

We stared at each other for a moment. "What did I do to deserve you?" I asked softly.

"You just happen to be very lucky," Bucky teased.

Usually it was me saying things like that. I liked hearing him say something like that. We both laughed, myself a little bit louder. Bucky pressed a small kiss against my mouth. I melted into him, letting his arms wrap tightly around my waist. It was moments like these that I realized just how much I loved him. As he released me, I simply stared at him. I was always so amazed when I looked at him. Not just because of the way that he looked, and he was quite handsome, but because of the fact that everything I had ever wanted was right in front of me.

"Come here," Bucky whispered.

We both smiled at each other as Bucky gently sat me back in the bed. For a while the two of us sat and drank our glasses of wine as we spoke in soft tones about the upcoming wedding and out eventual lives together. From the simple teasing of who would cook to what our home would look like. It was nice talking about our lives - because we would have a long time together. I just had to remember that. Once we had finished off our wine, we spent a long time just kissing each other. Laughing and teasing each other.

It had always been one of our favorite pass-times. Making fun of each other. A long time passed as the clock on the bedside table counted down the minutes, eventually passing midnight. Sometimes the two of us talked in hushed tones and other times we just kissed each other. I pulled my robe a little bit tighter around me as Bucky leaned us back and rolled me underneath him, running his hands through my hair, loosening the knot on the robe. My heart was now pounding, but I didn't want him to stop. This was what I had wanted for so long.

His hands continued loosening the knot on my robe as I reached my hands down to work at the knot on his boxer strings. "Vika..." Bucky said, breathing heavily, stopping my hands. "If you're not ready... it's okay..."

My hands were shaking desperately. "I want to," I whispered.

"Are you sure?" Bucky asked.

"Yes."

And I absolutely was. All of the nerves had left me. This was what I wanted. I knew that undoubtedly. So the two of us reached towards each other and began removing the last few bits of clothes that we were wearing. Bucky gently slipped the robe off of my shoulders and tossed it to the ground. My hands undid the knot at his boxers before stilling. His stopped at the hook of my bra. It took reassuring nods from the both of us to remove the last bits of our clothing, dropping them to the floor, showing ourselves fully to each other for the first time.

For a few seconds, I averted my gaze from him, unsure if I was supposed to look or not. But Bucky pressed a hand underneath my chin, pushing my face to meet his own. It was a little tough to look at him, and I could see in the back of his eyes that he felt the same, but I tried to ignore it. I knew that it would be tough. It was the first time that either one of us had ever seen the other completely bare. But this was something that I had wanted for a long time. In fact, I had never wanted something this much.

Eventually my eyes followed the lines of Bucky's body as he did the same. My heart was racing as Bucky pressed a small kiss against my mouth. He was shaking just the slightest bit. We were both very obviously nervous. I could feel his hands shaking slightly as he placed them at my waist. But I could also hear his thoughts, which were a little more confident. I knew that he wanted this just as much, if not even more, than I did. He gently shifted me so that I was directly underneath him. The heat was radiating off of us both.

"I love you," Bucky whispered.

"I love you too. Always," I whispered back.

The two of us smiled at each other as I waved a hand, putting out all but one of the candles on the bedside table. Bucky grabbed underneath my waist and tugged me gently so that I was completely underneath him. Suddenly a wave of calmness came over me. Something that I never felt. But I felt it right now. Perhaps it was because of the way that he was staring at me. It was calming, the look in his eyes. It was a look that took me a moment to place. It was a look that told me that he would never leave me. Especially not now.

A/N: Wow, I did not think that it had been this long since I'd updated this. I suck and you guys are wonderful! I'll definitely try and have the next one out much faster. Thanks so much for the follows and favorites! Please review! Until next time -A

.witch: I'm so glad that you love it! Sorry the update took forever, but I'm back!

Arkansas Sweetheart: That's a good comparison, actually. Hayden Panettiere is relatively close to what I was thinking. Losing Bucky will destroy Victoria, but it'll be a great journey for her. As for when we meet the Winter Soldier, that'll definitely be interesting. I have a plan, but it's still a while before we get there! Hope you liked this one!

A New Fan: That's definitely interesting... I promise that I've never heard of The Original Three, I would never steal someone else's idea. I actually took the name Victoria because it was about number fifty on a list of popular female names from the 1920's. I'm glad that the stories diverged, at least! Because I definitely thought that I was being original lol. Those are some interesting similarities though. I wish that I could be half as badass as Victoria! The story is definitely going to be a long one, so hang in there! I'm so glad that you like it and I'll have to check out The Original Three. You've made me curious.

amandatate48: I haven't, actually. I love the Winter Soldier storyline and Victoria definitely needs to go through something that will dramatically change her personality. It wouldn't make much sense for her to be captured since she can control minds. But it would be an interesting idea in theory.

Guest: I'm glad that you love the story so far! Trust me, I will be finishing it. It might take me a while, since I'm planning on it being so long, but I'm not abandoning this one. So, please, feel free to read!